


Signs of Changing

by DJBunn3



Category: Free!
Genre: Confessions, Day 3 - Growth, Fights, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Personal Growth, Rinharu Week 2016, Wins and Losses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 13:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7717216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DJBunn3/pseuds/DJBunn3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The point is, things are different now than they ever were before. Rin invites Iwatobi over to his dorm sometimes, and he brings Ai along to play with Nagisa, and they hang out until curfew. Or Makoto calls Rin over to a party at Haru’s house that was most definitely not planned by Haru. And every time they hang out, Rin will see a worried look on Haru’s face for just a second, as if he’s afraid Rin will turn his back on his old friends just as quickly as he’d returned to them.<br/>Which is ridiculous, because Rin couldn’t leave them if he tried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Signs of Changing

In the movies, Rin would have fallen right back in with the Iwatobi group. They would have welcomed him with open arms, and suddenly everything would go back to the way it was before.  
Unfortunately for him, this isn’t the movies. It’s been a month, and things are still adjusting. Everyone’s happy that he’s back, and no one happier than him, of course.  
But at the same time, he’s not back. Little Rin, with his neon vests and stupid goofy smiles, isn’t coming back. In his place is current, moody, teenage Rin, and he’s sticking around until probably his late twenties.  
The point is, things are different now than they ever were before. Rin invites Iwatobi over to his dorm sometimes, and he brings Ai along to play with Nagisa, and they hang out until curfew. Or Makoto calls Rin over to a party at Haru’s house that was most definitely not planned by Haru. And every time they hang out, Rin will see a worried look on Haru’s face for just a second, as if he’s afraid Rin will turn his back on his old friends just as quickly as he’d returned to them.  
Which is ridiculous, because Rin couldn’t leave them if he tried. He loves them all much too much to ever separate, at least not until college, which he doesn’t even want to think about.  
He confronts Haru about it one day.  
“Why don’t you race me, anymore?” Rin asks, falling into step beside him. Haru just shrugs, and Rin knows he wishes Makoto were here to speak for him instead of at home with the flu.  
“It’s troublesome,” he says finally, as if that explains everything. “If you want to race, ask someone from Samezuka.”  
“But racing you is different,” Rin whines, if only to get his point across. “I don’t care about swimming against anyone else.”  
“You shouldn’t care about swimming against anyone,” Haru says. “Ever. It’s pointless.”  
Rin knocks Haru’s shoulder with his own. “Competition is fun,” he points out. “Without it, swimming isn’t even a sport. It’s just flailing around in some water.”  
“That’s a stupid way to put it.”  
Haru seems to be deflecting every attempt Rin tries to get him to open up and tell him what’s wrong, or at least show that something _is_ wrong. He’s forced to take a more direct approach.  
“You know I could handle it if I lost,” he says.  
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Haru replies, his voice cool and emotionless.  
“Well, then, what are you worried about?” Rin prods. Haru seems to be caught off guard.  
“I’m not worried,” he says. “I just don’t want to race.”  
Rin sighs at the sky. “But you’ll have to swim against me someday,” he says. “Maybe soon, or maybe not. All I know is that it’s gonna happen.”  
“No it’s not,” Haru mumbles. “I’m not gonna race you. Ever.”  
“Well, why not?” Rin throws his hands up in the air, exasperation coloring his voice. “You’re so confusing sometimes.”  
“It’s not confusing, Rin,” Haru says. “Not really.”  
“How the hell is it ‘not confusing’ to refuse to race me? Do you know how many times we’ve raced before? We could improve a lot.”  
“You mean we could improve our swimming.”  
Rin sighs. “Yeah, whatever. If you want to be all exact, and all. We’ll improve our swimming.”  
“But I won’t race you.”  
Something fishy’s definitely going on with him. Rin stops and gives Haru a scrutinizing look.  
“What, are you afraid that you’ll lose? I thought you didn’t care about that.”  
Haru turns and glares at him, and Rin blinks because he wasn’t expecting that. “I’m afraid that I _won’t_ lose,” he says. “Even if you were a three time olympic champion and I hadn’t swam a day in ten years, I wouldn’t race you.”  
“You’re afraid that _I’ll_ lose?” Rin exclaims. “What, are you trying to spare my feelings or something?”  
Whirling so suddenly his neck must hurt, Haru takes two great steps towards Rin. “I’m trying to save our friendship,” he growls, and his eyebrows crease together. “And I might not care about winning or losing, but I damn well care about you.”  
It takes Rin about two seconds for his temper to kick in. “ _Excuse me?_ ” he exclaims. “You won’t race me because you think I’m gonna leave again if I lose?”  
Haru glares. “You don’t understand,” he says in a low voice.  
“Oh, I understand plenty. You think I’m still the same sensitive little kid who ran off crying because he lost a race?” he demands. “It’s been _years_ , you know. None of that matters now.”  
“Of course it matters!” Haru cries. Rin’s taken aback by the passion in his voice, as if this is the most important thing he’s ever said and he needs Rin to _listen_ because their very fate depends on it. “It matters because you almost quit swimming and derailed your entire life, because of _me_!”  
“So what?” Rin exclaims, in full on rage mode now. “I’ve grown a lot since then, you know. I can take a loss, especially against you. I know I’m not as good as you now. I’ve accepted it!”  
“And it doesn’t upset you at _all_ that you won’t win?” Haru snaps. “You’re such a good sport now that you’d be fine losing a hundred times to one?”  
“Who says I will?” Rin replies, flashing his shark teeth.  
“I don’t care who says what,” Haru hisses in reply. “I told you, you could have a two hundred percent chance of winning and I wouldn’t swim competitively against you.”  
“ _I’m not leaving again!_ ” Rin screams. “I’m not going away again. I couldn’t!”  
“I’m not taking that risk!” Haru shouts, and for a second he looks like he’s about to cry, or hit Rin, or run away. “I can’t lose you. Not now!”  
“You’re-” Rin’s voice breaks. “You’re not gonna lose me. Don’t you understand? I’ll always be at your side, as long as you want me there. Win or lose, I’m never leaving you.”  
Haru seems to choke. “Why?” he asks. His eyes are doing that wild thing they do when he gets emotional, making him look like a primitive animal.  
Rin doesn’t hesitate to grab his face and kiss him.  
And he’s reminded again that he isn’t in the movies, because it’s not magical and amazing and there aren’t fireworks or background music or anything. It’s horribly unplanned, and he kind of misses Haru’s top lip because what is direction, but it seems to get the message across. Which is good, because once he pulls away Rin’s shaking so badly he doesn’t think he can say anything.  
“Oh,” Haru says, and all the anger dissipates from his face. Rin’s heart is beating about ten times too fast to be comfortable and his mind is suddenly providing him with an infinite amount of things Haru could do to reject him right now.  
Instead, he’s pulled softly by the collar down to Haru’s level, and then _Haru’s_ kissing _him_ and it’s just a little better than last time. But once they pull away, Rin kind of misses the feeling of Haru’s lips on his. He feels cold without them.  
“You just…” Rin stares. Haru frowns, his eyebrows drawing together.  
“I know,” he says, turning away. There’s a little blush on his cheeks, and isn’t that just the cutest thing all of a sudden. Rin clears his throat.  
“So, you were really so worried about me leaving again?” he asks, unable to keep the smile off his face.  
“Shut up,” Haru mumbles. “Come on, let’s go.”  
Rin glances at his phone, then grimaces. “I should go. It’s almost curfew back at Samezuka.”  
“You’ll never make it there in time,” Haru argues. “You can stay the night. Call in and tell them you’re not coming back tonight.  
Rin looks away and wills himself not to blush. Controlling Haru is pretty hot.  
Glancing back, Haru gives Rin a quizzical stare. “Are you coming?”  
“Uh, yeah,” Rin says blankly. “Wait. Do we need to, uh, talk?”  
“About what?”  
“I dunno.” Shrugging helplessly, Rin struggles to find words. “About what just happened? The fight and the, um, other stuff? What it means?”  
Haru shrugs back. “What do you want it to mean?”  
“I… I want you to be my boyfriend,” Rin decides. “If you want.”  
“Okay,” Haru says.  
“And you don’t think I’m gonna run away again or anything?”  
“If you’re gonna be my boyfriend, you’d better not.”  
Rin beams. “... Does this mean you’ll race me?”  
Haru pauses for a second for Rin to catch up. “We’ll see.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's loose, but the prompt I chose was Wins and Losses, as well as Growth generally, and of course, the soundtrack Signs of Changing from Eternal Summer.


End file.
